Yale remains unbeaten in Ivy as Aletan and Mbeng shine against Dartmouth

By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Coming into the season, it seemed that James Jones knew what he was going to get out of four of his five starters as Yale began its Ivy League championship defense.

John Poulakidas is a guy that can be relied upon to get a bucket at any time. Bez Mbeng is the defensive-minded floor general. Nick Townsend and Casey Simmons are team first guys who always give 100 percent on each and every play. Then, there is Samson Aletan.

Playing sparingly off the bench a year ago as a freshman behind now-Michigan star Danny Wolf, the 6-foot-10 Aletan seemed to be a bit of a wild card heading into year two, where he was expected to take a leap into the starting five.

“Samson didn’t have as much of an opportunity for us last year,” Jones said. “His growth has been tremendous over the past year.”

With that growth, all Aletan has done is score in double figures in eight of Yale’s first 16 games to start the season, including Monday in a win over Dartmouth where he scored 17 points and had three blocks, getting pretty much whatever he wanted on the low block.

“When he plays like he did tonight, it’s hard to beat us,” Jones said. “He’s just a dominant player inside and it frees up everything and gives the defense something else to worry about. We’ve seen more nights like this over the past six or seven (games) than we had at the beginning of the season.”

“I had a rough game the last game in a close win, and Coach wanted me to be more aggressive the next game,” Aletan said. “Because of that, everyone else got opportunities. Just doing whatever I can for the team to win.”

The Bulldogs moved to a perfect 3-0 in Ivy play in Monday’s 83-67 win over Dartmouth after defeating Brown and Columbia each of the past two Saturdays as well. After some tough losses in non-conference play, it seems as if they’re hitting their stride at the right time.

“In the first half, it was a fight and a struggle for every possession,” Jones said. “We’ve got to do a better job of making in-game adjustments, but I thought the difference in the game was how we opened the second half.”

That start to the second half that Jones mentioned was a 9-0 Yale run that saw Dartmouth go without a field goal for over five minutes. The 41-37 halftime lead for the Bulldogs ballooned to 50-37, and the Big Green was never within seven points again.

Things looked to potentially be going south quickly for Yale, as Mbeng picked up his second personal foul with over 17 minutes to play in the first half. He went to the bench, but returned at around the 13-minute mark and played a majority of the half after that all without committing a third foul, showing how confident Jones is in his point guard.

“I knew I was going to put him back in because I trust him,” Jones said. “I knew what he was capable of doing, and he went back out there and played the whole half except the last minute.”

Mbeng shined in all the ways he usually does, picking up a couple of steals, setting up his teammates for easy buckets with flashy passes, and getting to the rim with his signature eurostep. On a fast break, he hit Aletan with a lob and followed that up hitting Michael Jordan’s famous shrug on the way back down the court.

“Me and Samson have been trying to connect on some lobs this year, so I was really hyped up that we could convert on that one,” Mbeng said. “I thought it was a really cool play, and I love sharing the ball to get my teammates involved.”

Overall, Mbeng finished with 16 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals, stuffing the stat sheet as he is prone to doing night in and night out. His first steal of the night broke the Yale all-time career steals record, something he’s proud of.

“It’s a crazy achievement that means a lot to me,” Mbeng said. “You know how much pride I take on that side of the floor, so it means a lot.”

It was a quiet night for Poulakidas compared to his 28-point, six 3-pointer performance on Saturday at Columbia. He still finished with 12 points on just 4-of-13 shooting. Even when he’s not making shots, his presence was known all around the perimeter, with the Big Green consistently doubling him on the catch.

“John’s human, so he’s gonna have an off night here and there,” Jones said. “They hard hedged him off the screen a little bit. What’s great about us is that we can absorb a night where he goes 4-for-13, because those have been few and far between this year.”

The final two starters, Townsend and Simmons, each finished in double figures as well. Townsend had 12 points in his typical bruiser, back-to-the-basket style, and Simmons had 10 with a pair of monster throw downs inside set up by Mbeng. Having all five starters finish in double figures shows how many different ways the Bulldogs can beat you.

“We can’t rely on John to go out and score every night for us, we need other people to go out and contribute,” Jones said. “We had five guys in double figures and he was one of them.”

Yale will take on Harvard Saturday in New Haven, looking to stay unbeaten in Ivy League play before a crucial tilt with Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium on January 31.